There's a great book called Shark! Killer Tales From the Dangerous Depths by Robert Reid, ISBN 978-1-74175-902-0 which is a relatively new release and contains information on Shark Attacks around Australia with very good and accurate descriptions of sharks, both dangerous and harmless. There's another book called Shark, In Peril In the Sea by David Owen which is a more scientific catalogue of sharks.

The Bull Shark is the 3rd most dangerous shark found in Australian waters. Partly, as stated earlier, because it can live in fresh water for extended periods. It is responsible for probably the highest number of shark attacks out of all the predators (1st most dangerous istThe Great White and 2nd is the Tiger Shark). Dr John Stevens from the CSIRO says of Bull Sharks, "It is a very dangerous shark, perhaps even more so than the Tiger Shark and White Shark because of its extremely aggressive nature, powerful jaws, broad diet, abundance, and its preference for shallow, murky inshore habitats". (from his book Sharks and Rays of Australia)

A Bull Shark is believed responsible for the last fatality recorded in Sydney Harbour, 28/01/63, actress Marcia Hathaway was attacked off a small beach in the Harbour while with friends looking for oysters.

Several people were attacked in and around Gold Coast canals during a particular few months recently and some lost their lives because of the Bull Sharks that inhabit the area.

The Bull Shark is an entirely frightening animal, there is, almost beyond belief, what's called a "shark Listening Station" in a Northern NSW town called Tabulam. It's approx 100km from the coast. The Clarence River runs in from Yamba-Iluka and the sharks hang around Nymboida and Tabulam. Scientists have electronically tagged the known sharks in the river and use the listening stations to monitor their movements. There are lots of listening stations around rivers and estuaries up and down the east coast.

I have always been fascinated by Sharks. I also have a very healthy fear of them and don't particularly enjoy swimming in water potentially inhabited by sharks. I just don't want to be eaten alive. If I go to the beach I will only enter water when I can see the bottom and don't go in more than knee deep in some cases.

btw, on the subject of Wobbegongs and "harmless" sharks. There are certainly recorded attacks precipitated by these sharks. Particularly Wobbegongs. Funnily enough, they are one of the most common to bite people, mostly because they get stepped on or picked up. There is a story in the Robert Reid Shark book about a guy who was surfing I think and attacked by a Wobbegong which latched onto his leg and would -not- let go. He walked along the beach for a couple hundred metres til he arrived at a surf club, the staff there were astonished to see the shark still hanging off his leg. They couldn't get it to open its jaws at all so they stuck a hose down its mouth, not liking the fresh water, it let go and the surfer promptly drove himself to hospital!

I and an unknown number of other banana benders/QLDer`s enjoy the odd bit of smaller river flake,called the bull shark.below is my understanding of the "bullie"

Bull Sharks

. The Great White, The Tiger Shark and the Bull Shark are the sharks commonly quoted as being the most dangerous sharks. The Bull Shark is said to be the less aggressive of the three, but the Bull Shark’s environment has it living/roaming in areas close to populated shoreline areas making it extremely dangerous to humans.It has a number of different names both in Australia and around the world and so people think they are a different species of shark.

Coloured grey (to a pale brownish) above and off white underneath. The Bull Shark has small eyes and very powerful jaws. The upper teeth are broad, serrated and triangular, while the lower jaw has more pointed teeth.

They have a large triangular dorsal fin and a medium large second dorsal fin.The first dorsal fin is more pointed than the second.

The Bull Shark is heavy bodied with a short nose. The shark is wider in comparison to its length than most other sharks of comparable length. They grow to about 3.5 metres and 230 kg.

Known by the scientific name Carcharhinus leucas, in Australia,the Bull shark can be known as an Estuary Whaler, River Shark, Freshwater Whaler,as well as a number of local names eg:Swan River Whaler.Note that many of the Bull Shark s` local names include the words estuary and river.

Bull Sharks tend to stay close to shore and frequent estuaries, rivers and lakes. One of the most distinctive features of the Bull Shark is the ability to live in fresh or salt water

The Bull Shark is found in most Australian water systems including Brisbane and Bremer Rivers,Mary and Burnett Rivers,Fitzroy and Herbert Rivers in Qld, Swan River WA, Clarence River and other NSW rivers, Daly River and other NT rivers.Many “shark experts”believe that the Bull Shark is responsible for most of the attacks that have occurred in and around Sydney Harbour .

The Bull Shark is certainly related to the whaler family and is commonly confused with the Bronze Whaler.

The shark favours murky water for hunting. The sharks diet includes fish, sharks, turtles,dolphins,sting rays, birds, and even swimming dogs have been included in its menu.

So the Bull Shark is just :a common, aggressive, meat eating(usually white but will partake in red if offered)reasonably large sized shark that frequents the shallow coastal waters, river mouths, estuaries, harbours and rivers,around almost, the entire Australian coastline.Most keen fishermen/women are aware of this shark in the water ways, others are not as aware of these silent lurkers.

Many anglers in Qld do fish for them,the legal keep size in Qld is 1.5metres or less with a limit of 1 shark per person.

Bull Sharks are a really good reason to Not swim in river mouths,and murky waters.

This site describes various accounts of a bull shark attack that occurred on Stradbroke Island in 2006 at Amity Point. I was there that day, and remember it well. That same week, I was in waist deep water (at a different part of the beach) with a number of people and saw a shadow about 100m to my left near the shore. I got out of the water to look and saw it was a large bull shark swimming in thigh deep water. This was in the middle of the day in clear water. I got everyone out of the water as calmly as I could, and it continued to cruise up and down - but just goes to show they aren't always the aggressive monsters they are portrayed to be - it could have attacked any one of us and we wouldn't have stood a chance.

when areas of Ipswich and Brisbane were flooded in January this year,the flooded waters of the Brisbane River engulfed large parts of the Ipswich suburb of Goodna.The Ipswich motorway (to Brisbane)in that area was covered in many metres of water bull sharks were seen(confirmed reports)swimming in the motor way waters.

A Goodna member of a fishing online site I use actually had a bullie swimming in swollen waters in his yard(confirmed report.

In January/February each year schools of bait fish travel up the coast and go past the Gold Coast area and go into areas of Moreton Bay,these schools are attacked as they travel along the coast by packs of bullies,whalers and I would guess the odd tiger shark.This scene goes on,sometimes only a few hundred metres,off the Gold Coast beach`s.

Each year this event is covered on the regional TV news.

This year,so far there has not been any mention of this event occuring,so I am wondering if the massive flooding of SEQ and parts of northern NSW has affected the usual migration of these bait fish schools.Time will tell

I do a lot of fishing around Havanah Island, part of the Palm Island group, yeah i know, tough job but somebody has to do it. 3 of us where fishing off the beach on the north western point of the island when several giant trevally of around 6kg beached themselves like a bait school being chased by something huge. Grabbed a couple before they could get back into the water and then saw a fin I estimated to be just under a metre high followed by the huge head of a hammerhead almost breaching out of the water. Almost crapped myself as it was less than 20 metres off shore. We don't nowmally go swimming over there due to various large beasties but that one put us off ever going back into the water. Plenty of cranky tiger sharks around as well and they do grow very big. About 10 years ago we got shadowed by one while in 14 foot barra punt fishing about 3 klm off shore at the Paluma Shoals. It was longer than the boat.

I grew up in PNG and started diving on teh reefs off Port Moresby/Taurama Barracks as a 9 year old with the native kids and didn't have a fear of sharks. The other kids were not scared of teh reefies or tigers but we all left the water when being investigated by sea snakes. lol

i wouldn't consider that photographer to be taking a big risk photographing that mako shark, the water is crystal clear and the shark is already feeding on an easy meal. If the guys in the boat wanted to be a smartass they could have lifted the marlin onboard before the shark got a bite, then things could have got interesting hehe

Stormy, I've been doing some "research" aka googling and youtubing, and it seems that the shark is actually sharks, and they have been there for a number of years, since the early 90's apparently, when that area was under water for a number of weeks after flooding. And looking at the numerous videos it/they appear to be Bull Sharks, which don't need salt water to survive.

I believe near map may have caught it in a recent pass over the area, http://tinyurl.com/3h8kcjf (nothing like that in that area on previous images)

and they've also opened up a small channel between the 2 lakes (compare to previous images) where another small object can be seen in the smaller lake.http://tinyurl.com/3us4xaj (again, nothing in the previous images in that area)

And as for a food sources, well apparently the lake is very healthy and they hold annual fishing comps on the lake.

Other than morphological differences... the bull shark and reef shark differ in their niche habitat requirements, ecology & behaviour.

Bull sharks will forage well inshore up creeks, rivers, in mangrove habitats and will take whatever prey they can- given the opportunity. Their territory & ecological niche has a significant overlap with the urban /human environments and thus they represent more of a risk /hazard to waterloving humans. They are highly territorial and will attack any other large competitor. They are highly opportunistic- having all the tools required to take large prey. Humans definately trigger their prey stimulus - so we are on their menu as a food. They spend a lot of time in shallow in-shore waters and waterways. Land-use changes (urbanisation) are probably exerting a big influence on the evolution of Bullsharks - just think that here in Australia at least - Bullshark habitat remained virtually unchanged for hundreds of thousands of years and that in the last 300 or so years we have dramatically changed the face of the coastline & inshore areas.

The reef shark occupies a slightly different niche environment that provides less overlap with human environments (rocky reefs near swimming beaches or other reef habitat closer to the inshore /beach areas). For example the Blacktip reef sharks (C. melanopterus) are highly territorial and will patrol their reef and will show site fidelity (returning to the same 'home' ranges). They will hunt in packs and also alone, whereas in comparison the bullshark is a solitary hunter. Reef sharks might spend a lot of time in-shore- occupying sandy ledges, rocky reefs and will also spend time in deeper waters around reef edges & drop-offs. They spend less time in urban waterways or entering brackish waters than the Bullshark. Humans are not their target prey and generally these sharks are considered harmless unless feeding or provoked.

I expect that the mode of attack would be very different too - (any experts should correct me If I am wrong to think) a Blacktip reef shark will make it's presence known first, being a skittish, nervous sort of shark, it will suss you right out, circle you and show obvious signs of aggression such as jerky, bucking, tailwhipping action before attacking... Just as with a dangerous dog you should not turn your back to it as it circles but maintain eye contact - thats if you are scuba diving.

whereas a Bullshark will ambush you, come in hard & fast for a bite- WHAM -you won't know what even happened (similar technique to a Great White) you would take a massive hit and then hopefully it would spit you back out...

I expect that the mode of attack would be very different too - (any experts should correct me If I am wrong to think) a Blacktip reef shark will make it's presence known first, being a skittish, nervous sort of shark, it will suss you right out, circle you and show obvious signs of aggression such as jerky, bucking, tailwhipping action before attacking... Just as with a dangerous dog you should not turn your back to it as it circles but maintain eye contact - thats if you are scuba diving.

whereas a Bullshark will ambush you, come in hard & fast for a bite- WHAM -you won't know what even happened (similar technique to a Great White) you would take a massive hit and then hopefully it would spit you back out...

I think you observations may have more to do with the enivronment, the clarity of the water than actual attack style.

I have spent many years fishing in creeks and rivers for bull sharks and I can tell you that they are a very cautions and shy predator.

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"The harder you work the luckier someone else becomes".

Yesterdays fatality due to shark attack has some of the less informed populace calling for a shark cull off WA.It seems that this is mankinds answer to almost every 'wildlife conflict' But will not reduce the potential risk to divers, surfers or anyone that chooses to swim in the ocean. Sharks live in the ocean and perform important functions maintaining ecosystem balance - clearing the ocean of dead animals, picking off the sickly and weak individuals in marine animal populations etc. On the rare occasion a human is attacked and more tragically this ends in fatality. Why is it such a difficult reality for humans to face up to? Sharks live in the ocean and can be extremely dangerous predators. When you snorkel, scuba dive, surf, spearfish or do anything else in 'their habitat' you place yourself at risk! Culling is just a way to appease fear in the minds of the ignorant - it will not reduce your risk if you choose to enter the ocean.As for nets and baited hooks - their whole purpose is to reduce shark numbers. Sharks swim around or under nets and some will have learnt how to take bait from the hooks without being hooked. I have seen this with my own eyes (using binoculars of course) as I live on the headland... often have observed medium sized sharks coming inshore to the baited hook /drum line just after it has been baited (by the guy in the tinny). Following a bit of a commotion and movement (drumline and buoy bobs up and down a bit) the shark then swims off back out to sea. Thankfully we do not have nets on our beaches as yet.